


madness

by katsudonice



Series: Ashley Trevelyan [2]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: M/M, sort of a mention of suicidal tendencies, this is shite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-04
Updated: 2015-03-04
Packaged: 2018-03-16 08:33:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3481409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katsudonice/pseuds/katsudonice
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ashley "sometimes I try to outdrink Bull" Trevelyan might be a little off.</p>
            </blockquote>





	madness

Cassandra had once asked him if he thought Trevelyan was mad. At the time he had been inclined to agree with her, but now he was not so sure.

Josephine, Maker bless her tact, declared Trevelyan to simply be an eccentric as nobles so often were. 

Leliana suggested that Trevelyan was touched by the Maker, which of course was just a polite euphemism for him being simple, but he was like no simpleton Cullen had ever met. 

There was a certain madness that lived in Trevelyan’s mind. Sometimes he claimed to words floating in the air when he spoke to people and other times he would just stand in one place, staring at nothing, for hours on end. Once Dorian even claimed that Trevelyan had walked up to him, spoken, and then walked away muttering, “No. I need to choose the other one.” This episode had lasted for several minutes until Trevelyan had apparently chosen the correct “one.” 

Touched by the Maker was the kindest term for Trevelyan in the end even if it wasn’t quite accurate. Cullen had known the young Trevelyan as a Templar recruit and had never had reports of any signs of madness or instability from Trevelyan’s commanding officer. Trevelyan himself had claimed that the Mark had changed his mind somehow. 

Varric claimed that Hawke had once told him that during important conversations he sometimes thought he saw flashes of color in the air depending on the tone he decided to take. Even Leliana had quietly mentioned the Hero of Ferelden would sometimes go into fits about not seeing the right choice, whatever that meant. 

“Sometimes I think about jumping off the battlements.” Cullen’s hand, which had been resting so casually along the small of Trevelyan’s back clenched suddenly into his tunic as if to hold him there. 

“Perhaps not the best thing to tell me where we currently stand, love.” A sudden cold blast from the mountains causes him to grip onto the Inquisitor that much harder. “Why don’t we go inside?” He can feel the strain in his voice. Trevelyan had not said that he would jump, but the very idea of losing him was too much for Cullen to bear. 

The Inquisitor laughed, leaning against the walls of the battlements, dislodging Cullen’s death grip as he moves. “I said I think about it, dear Commander.” He speaks with such flippancy that Cullen thinks he may be taking lessons from Dorian. 

“If I jumped I would live.” Each time he smiles Cullen is struck with the knowledge of how young he is. His face is still round with childhood and he once griped that no matter what he tried it took nearly a week to grow a day’s worth of Cullen’s stubble.   
“You can’t be assured of that. Let’s go inside, please.” He tried so desperately to not sound so desperate, but it was in vain. He had seen Trevelyan do reckless things with an easy smile and knew that perhaps he was mad. 

“I can be assured.” He leaned further back into the wall and Cullen gripped at his hips to keep him still. “I’ll survive and even if I died everything would just…Reset.” He rested his arms around Cullen’s neck, fingers into the hair near the base. 

“Ashley that doesn’t make any sense.” His fingers dig into Trevelyan’s skin hard enough to bruise, but the other man doesn’t flinch. Cullen sometimes thinks that he will lose Trevelyan to whatever it is that drives him. Perhaps he is simple or perhaps the Mark twisted his mind. 

Nearly as quickly as these strange moods take him do they disappear, leaving Ashley “I like to make up my middle name” Trevelyan behind. 

“I’m starving. Do you think the cooks have anything left over from breakfast?” Gone is the faraway look in his eyes and there is even a pleasant smile on his face. 

“I… I can’t imagine there wouldn’t be.” The moods are maddening and so very tiring, but never has Cullen felt so much for one person. “Why don’t you bring something up? I’ve work to do and I need to speak with Cassandra.” 

For his troubles he is granted a quick kiss and a smile as Trevelyan bounds off to the kitchens to procure snacks. Maybe Trevelyan’s madness had rubbed off on him. As he returned to his office Cullen found himself not caring.

**Author's Note:**

> My headcanon for Skyrim is that the Dragonborn feels compelled to do things because of the Elder Scrolls. They are compelled to say yes and compelled to do quests. Also, they may hear the voices of the dragon souls they consume telling them what to do (the quest marker). Aaaaand along that same vein I headcanon that the heroes in the Dragon Age series have a similar issue where they feel compelled to do things they normally wouldn't (Finding a Druffalo??) and in the case of my Inquisitor, they may literally see dialogue choices floating around them. Point is, Ashley thinks or maybe actually does, see things that the player sees when playing the game.


End file.
